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Practice Guide 6 pages
Song Sheet with Lyrics 5 pages
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About this lesson
In this lesson I’ll teach you how to play the Johnny Cash classic I Walk The Line, which was originally released in 1956. My main tutorial (above) focuses entirely on the iconic intro to this song, which remains one of my favorite things to play after having learned hundreds of songs. I start with just the bass notes, then proceed to add single strums of each chord, and finally add filler up-strums & palm muting to give you that boom-chicka sound.
- 0:00 Lesson overview
- 2:19 Variation 1: bass notes only
- 13:26 Variation 2: adding simple chord strums
- 21:27 Variation 3: adding muted “boom-chicka” strumming
- 25:18 Farewell
Bonus Videos
Here’s a few extra videos, made in thanks to those supporting me with Premium membership here on my Song Notes website. To those showing your support, you have my true thanks and appreciation — and I hope you find these additional videos helpful!
Full Intro Playthrough: Simple Strumming
Here’s the complete intro to I Walk the Line, played with a single strum of each chord. This matches what I teach in the lesson. When first learning this sequence, I recommend starting with this strumming approach (as it’s much easier than the boom-chicka version, shown below).
Full Intro Playthrough: Boom-Chicka Strumming
Here’s the complete intro to I Walk the Line, played with boom-chicka strumming approach. This is characterized by adding an up-strum on each chord just after each downstrum. All strums are also favoring the thickest 3-4 strings of each chord. I’m also using palm muting throughout the intro. This is much trickier to play, but a fun version to build up to!
Full Song Tutorial (Lesson #6)
This is a much older video for this song, which was one of the very first I ever made. Beware, I was brand new to recording videos! There are no graphics and the presentation is quite raw and unrefined. Just the same, I’m leaving it up in case it helps with anything (when learning the verse sections especially) not included in my main tutorial above.
Related & Recommended
Here’s some tutorials I’ve made that teach the tips & techniques used in this song. Use these to really get the hang of these core principles, which you’ll use in various songs.
Browse Related Lessons
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